Twilight at the Disco
by 6ix
Summary: Discord has become Princess Twilight's advisor, and they are driveing each other crazy. However hate can morph into love, but they are still driving each other crazy.
1. Chapter 1

Twilight at the Disco by 6ix

* * *

You Freeze a Rubber Chicken you don't Cook It.

Canterlot castle can best be described as grand: grand halls, grand rooms, grand kitchens, grand baths and bedrooms.

The two-thousand year old structure left nothing but thick stone between its inhabitants and the outside elements. Many spells surrounded the structure to make the inhabitants comfortable without altering the historic icon of Canterlot with modern methods of insulation.

Even with all that magic, two weeks into her rule and Twilight's fireplace was still going out halfway through the night. She would wake up to an overwhelming cold every morning.

As the morning chill set in, she began to stir under her sheets, wishing to be warm. She felt the cold seep into her hooves and legs. It nipped at her nose while her ears hugged her skull for warmth. As she felt it take over her body she rolled over hoping to cover herself with more of her blanket. She bumped into something warm and furry; without thinking about it she pulled it close and latched onto it.

Twilight found the fur to be soft and thick as it tickled her nose. The heat that seemed to radiate from underneath it not only warmed her up but relaxed her; almost made her feel safe. As she drifted back to sleep she rubbed her face deeper into the fur and warmed her cold ears and cheeks.

Then the warm fuzzy thing started snoring.

Twilight eyes shot open and she slowly looked up to find Discord close enough to breathe on her.

Her legs wrapped around his midsection, while his tail swept around her and pressed against her back; the white tuff tangled in her mane. His head was just above hers; the heat of his breath rolling down her neck.

Her heart started beating its way out of her chest, her face became flushed as her stomach filled with butterflies; she opened her mouth, and…screamed.

A purple plume of magic shot Discord's still sleeping body up and smashed him against the ceiling. He fell right back into the bed with a few bits of the ceiling.

After his landing his eyes were wide and bloodshot; he had to blink a couple of times to get his bearings. He soon noticed Twilight next to him; red faced and holding her sheets to her chin, as if to hide herself from him.

"_Why are you in my bed?"_ Twilight yelled. She was gritting her teeth at him and squeezed the blanket so tight that her joints hurt.

"A princess shouldn't raise her voice." Discord mocked while wagging his finger at her. "Your guards would come in here to investigate all the yelling and find us in bed together." Discord brought a claw to his mouth in false concern. "Oh, what would they think?"

Twilight understood what he was suggesting and took a deep breath, letting the air roll out of her nostrils, taking most of her rage with it. Once her anger subsided enough to control her voice she glared at the spirit.

"Why are you in my bed?" she asked thrusting her face towards his.

"I was sleepy." Discord answered as he stretched his arms out and popped his joints.

"Why didn't you sleep in your bed?" she said throwing her hooves in the air.

"I lost it," Discord stated casually as he popped his neck by twisting head all the way around.

"How did you lose your bed?" Twilight asked half heartedly. Annoyed that he would so casually invade her privacy; part of her was not surprised.

"I gave it legs." he answered as if that was normal.

"Yo- wha-, how, why would you do that?" Her voice began to rise again.

Discord opened his mouth to answer, but Twilight interrupted him.

"Never mind, I don't care" she said while she rubbed her temples. "Why did you choose to sleep in my bed?" Twilight asked as she gained some control over her voice again.

"I didn't. Well, I did, but that's not why I came here. I wanted Spike to send some letters." Discord pointed to a basket near the bed. "When I got here he was asleep, you were asleep, and I found myself sleepy."

"That makes no sen-"she stopped herself from finishing that sentence. "Never mind, with you nothing makes sense."

"Or, everything makes sense with me and," He said poking her in the nose. "You're the crazy one."

Before Twilight could yell at him to get out Spike came out of nowhere and climbed onto the bed. Their augment had awoken him up and just like a foal would climb into their parent's bed, so did Spike.

"Hey Discord." He greeted him through a yawn. "What are you doing here?"

"Teaching Twilight about the birds and the bees." Discord answered, smirking at the chance to cause trouble.

Twilight growled and raised a hoof to slap Discord.

"Oh she already knows about the birds and the bees."

Twilight froze, her face quickly became a look of shock.

"Oh, really?" Discord gave Twilight a mischievous smile.

"Yea, she and Fluttershy showed me what they knew" Spike yawned again.

Twilight pupils became like pinpricks while her mane became a little more disheveled. Her eyes didn't focus on anything in particular

Discord rolled onto his stomach and put his head in his claws, like a foal listening to a story.

"How did it go, Spike?" he asked.

"It hurt," he answered

Discord stifled a laugh. "What? Did a bee sting you?" he teased.

"No" Spike answered innocently. "Fluttershy had this little pecker and it got me good."

Both Twilight and Discord started laughing so hard that they rolled off the bed. Spike, however, was rather taken back.

"It's not funny!" Spike, clueless, started yelling at them. "Her pecker got me right in the eye!"

The two started laughing even harder, tears running down their faces. After gaining some control, they dragged their way back onto the bed like they were scaling a cliff.

"Spike," Twilight said after catching her breath. She walked up to Spike and nuzzled him. His innocence made him such an endearing companion. "Don't ever change," She said as she placed a hoof around him.

Spike was really confused at this point, but embraced her back. However, a growl from Spike's stomach interrupted them, causing Twilight to giggle a little bit more.

"Why don't you go to the kitchen and eat; I asked them to stock a few gems for you. They might be in by now."

With those words Spike forgot about everything else and ran out of the room licking his lips.

Twilight watched him leave with a smile on her face and an endearing feeling in her heart, not far from a mother's love.

"You know, he was the reason I was here, right?" Discord said a little annoyed.

Twilight turned to him and gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry."

Discord sighed and levitated three letters out of nowhere into the air. He then snapped his fingers; Twilight watched as all three letters disappeared.

"You just sent them, didn't you?" she didn't wait for an answer. "Why didn't you do that in the first place?" Twilight asked as she sent him a glare.

"I was bored," Discord said as he lied back down in the bed.

Twilight sighed, "Of course you were. So whom were those letters for?"

"Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie," He answered.

Twilight brain started ticking with curiosity, but all that came out of her mouth was, "Why are you writing to them?"

"Celestia suggested it; she said it would help remind me why I'm a, 'Lord of the Court', and not a paper weight."

Twilight giggled, "Did she really say paper weight?"

"Yes she did," he answered her with a smirk of his own. Discord enjoyed a good joke, even when he was the punch line.

Twilight giggled again, "Sorry, that was a little mean of her."

Discord fluffed up his pillow and put his claws behind his head. "It's ok. There was this one time that a certain mare that turned me to stone. Now that was mean."

Twilight decided to play along with the spirit.

"Yeah, I heard she did it with a rainbow. It must have been so embarrassing for you." She rolled her eyes at him.

"Worse, she shot it at me with a tiara." The two started laughing again.

A thought crossed Twilight's mind as the laughter subsided. They were just talking, like normal ponies. Well, Discord wasn't a pony, but he wasn't being-.

"Discord you're being…pleasant and not as…hyperactive." Twilight stated after she was unable to put a hoof on his current behavior.

"I just haven't laughed this much since the castle was mine." He answered her.

Twilight smiled and nodded. She didn't need to ask any more questions, she knew full well the power that laughter could have over some ponies. She settled back in bed and let the feeling of content and happiness sink into her.

Twilight's mind drifted, but it back peddled a bit after she thought about what Discord just said.

She almost lost control when she realized that a gateway to all the unwritten history of Equestria was in bed with her. So much information at her hooves; that is, if she could get him to answer her questions.

"Discord, may I ask you a few questions?" She asks looking up at him.

Discord opened his eyes and gave her an annoyed look. He saw the anticipation in her eyes.

Twilight wanted to ask about his past, thinking he had some kind of hidden history to divulge.

Discord sneered and grinned at her as wheels spun wildly behind his eyes.

"Only if you solve my riddle." He said to her.

Discord raised an eyebrow at Twilight as she clapped her hooves together.

"That sounds fun," Twilight declared.

She wiggled her body deeper into her bed and pulled the blanket to her chest. She seemed to have grown oblivious to the fact that Discord spent the night in her bed.

_So she wants to have fun. Let's see how far you can go._ Discord thought to himself.

"Alright, I'm not deaf, but if you ask right I will answer left."

After he gave Twilight the riddle; he mimicked her and slithered further under the blankets, making himself comfortable. Discord watched as Twilight's brain worked its magic. He could almost see her unraveling the riddle.

Then her ears perked up.

"What is your name?" she asked with a smirk on her face.

"Drocsid." He answered.

"Ha! I knew it!" Twilight exclaimed throwing a hoof into the air in triumph. "If I answer right you'll answer left. So if ask left you will answer right," She explained her understanding of the riddle. Twilight sat there for a few moments looking at her hooves. Slowly her ears dropped as she thought; then suddenly they perked right back up. "Os ohw tliub siht eltsac?"

"I built it." Discord said as he jabbed a thumb into his chest. "Who else would have half of it hanging off a cliff?" Discord answered with an amused voice.

"Tahw saw ruoy elur ekil?" However, Twilight would not get her answer, as Celestia flew through Twilight's balcony door.

What Celestia saw was precarious at best. Discord laid back with Twilight next to him. Both had happy and content looks on their faces.

"Oh! My apologies, I didn't mean to interrupt you two." Celestia said while frantically looking for a way out of the awkward situation.

Twilight tilted her head frowned at Celestia, then scarlet danced across her face as she understood what this might look like.

"No, no, no, it's not what you think Celestia!" Twilight called out; her hoof stretched out to Celestia, her jaw just hung loose from her face as she lost control of it. A series of 'ahs and ums oozed out of her open mouth. Her eyes widen and her pupils shrank as she could muster up a reasonable explanation. She herself didn't understand why Discord decided to spend the night with her. A lost bed was not an answer.

Twilight turned to Discord with pleading eyes that were shifting from him to Celestia. He sighed as he understood that she wanted him to back her up.

He turned his attention to Celestia, looked her right in the eyes, and in a clear, calm, and sincere voice said.

"It's exactly what you think."

Twilight's eyes became devoid of life as her pupils shrank to nothing. Her face seem to melt as she became petrified; even more inaudible sounds of disbelief escaped through her agape mouth.

"Twilight my dear, there is no reason to be embarrassed. You're a young mare," Celestia said. "Why, this is healthy of you."

Twilight slowly turned to look at Celestia, her face still frozen in a state of horror.

"I'll give you two some privacy." Celestia said as she flew back out the balcony.

Twilight could do nothing but watch her leave.

As soon as Celestia was gone Discord snapped his fingers, turning the bed into a heart shape with red silk sheets.

"Come my princess," Said Discord as he ran a claw down the side of Twilight's face. "We don't want to make liars of ourselves."

As Discord spoke Twilight eyes became narrow, her mane started stand on its ends, and her teeth clenched down.

* * *

Fluttershy was enjoying her morning tea when her teapot started coughing and gagging.

"Oh my." she said softly putting her hoof to her mouth.

She watched as the ceramic wear spit up a letter addressed to her. With a grimace on her face Fluttershy slowly picked up the letter and saw who it was from.

"Oh, look, Angel, it's a letter from Discord." She said to the grumpy bunny as she unfolded the parcel. The white rabbit just rolled his eyes at her as she read the letter.

"Oh, he would like a visit from me soon. It would be nice to see how Twilight is doing, wouldn't it, Angel?"

Fluttershy slowly flew to the door and went outside to take in the morning air. In the distance the castle could be seen as a very faint shape on the horizon. Fluttershy stared at it with fond memories of one of her best friends.

She heard the peaceful chirping of the morning birds around her. a cool breeze flowed over the flowers and around her hooves; bringing her the scent of the fall season as her mane flowed with the moving air.

Her eyes followed a few leaves that blew by. The Running of the Leaves was not far from now. As the breeze died down Fluttershy could hear the faint buzzing of some insects around the flowers. Fluttershy adored mornings. To her, the world seems to always wake up with such brightness.

Fluttershy enjoyment of nature was interrupted by the sight of a large mushroom cloud of purple smoke that jettisoned from the castle. The strange sight was followed by ominous clashing sound that reminded her of distant thunder.

Fluttershy became quite scared and started to rush inside to hide, but her sharp eyes caught something moving in the distance.

It seemed to be coming from the castle as it arched its way closer to her with tremendous speed. A high pitch whistling grew in volume as the object closed the distance between itself and Fluttershy.

When Fluttershy realized that it was going to land near her she jumped back into her cottage and slammed the door shut.

Hiding behind her couch, Fluttershy covered her head with her front legs as her whole body shook. A few whimpers escaped between her clenched teeth. The loud whistling could still be heard through her windows moments before the impact.

The moment it landed everything in Fluttershy's home, including herself, jumped into the air; even the carpet under her couch levitated for a few moments before falling back into place.

She was content to hide there the rest of her life until she heard a moan coming from outside her door. Fluttershy stopped shaking and looked over at her door.

Concerned that some poor animal may have been hurt by the impact she poked her head out her door. She could see a long snake like figure dragging itself out of a small smoking crater in the ground. She perked up and forgot her fears when she recognized the creature's silhouette through the smoke.

"Oh, Discord, how are you?" Fluttershy said as she flew to him. "I got your letter but I thought I was going to visit you. Luckily I have some tea ready, that is if you would like som-"

She stopped mid sentence when the smoke cleared and revealed that Discord's long body was grotesquely bent at unnatural angles, a horn was broken off with both eyes blackened. His long fang was chipped with a crack branching its way up the tooth. Tiny little Twilights flew around his head.

"But mother I don't want to go to school." Discord fell to his knees. "I want to stay home and bake cookies with you." Discord fell over unconscious.

* * *

After dragging Discord's limp body into her cottage, Fluttershy was still a little red from straining herself as she fetched her medical supplies.

She was frantically zipping around inside her home in such a panic that she didn't notice Discord slowing rising to his feet.

His body felt heavy and sore as he forced himself to get up. He desperately tried to get Fluttershy's attention but she just would not stop moving. Finally, he gritted through the pain and yelled at her. "Fluttershy!"

"I'm sorry, Discord, but not now. You're unconscious and injured; I need to get you some help." She came to a halt right above her couch. Hovering there with her arms full of first aid supplies, she looked at Discord carefully.

Discord magically made himself good as new, not even a patch of dirt from the impact. Still worried about him she forced him to sit down and rest. She brought him some tea and gave him another look over.

"Now, Discord," Fluttershy said as she sat next to him, satisfied that he was ok. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Oh, Fluttershy, it was horrible!" Discord said as he raised his eagle claw in a fake swoon. "There I was peacefully sleeping and Twilight attacked me."

Fluttershy raised her hoof to her mouth with a look of shock. Discord gave her a whimper as she tried to comfort him.

"Oh my goodness! W-why did she attack you?" Fluttershy asked with concern.

"It was so mediocre, she honestly overreacted. You see I may have..." he took a deep, exaggerated, breath

"Snuck-into-her-bed-and-made-her-look-like-a-loose-mare-in-front-of-Celestia-then-came-on-to-her-as-a-joke."

Fluttershy flew up to his level so that they were eye to eye. She crossed her front legs and gave him a stern look.

"Now, Discord, I know you like to play jokes." Her voice took on its signature, 'listen to mother' voice. "But there is a line and that line is different with every pony. You need to learn what kind of jokes to play on your friends and what jokes not to."

"Twilight is not my friend! You're my only friend Fluttershy, remember?"

"You're wrong, Discord." Fluttershy expression softened as she spoke. "Twilight is my friend and a friend of a friend is a friend." Discord just rolled his eyes at her. "It's true Discord. Twilight will do anything for me and she trusts me. I trust you and can call you my friend so Twilight also trusts you. She will help you out if you need it because I'm your friend. If this was not true wouldn't you still be in the garden?"

"Well if you ask me that's sallow." Discord said in a huff.

"I am asking you, Discord. Wouldn't you rather have a friendship with her because she sees what I see?" Fluttershy sipped her tea. She smiled as the warmed liquid flowed down her throat and warmed her center.

Discord stubborn expression softens a little as he rubbed the back of his head. Why would he care about Twilight's friendship? He honestly found her to be an annoying little do-gooder and a know it all. He would have more fun making her a victim of his then sitting have tea like he was with Fluttershy.

Well, he liked the game they started before Celestia interrupted them, which reminded him of the joke they shared on Spike's behalf.

Looking down at Fluttershy, enjoying her tea, he realized that those were things she wouldn't enjoy. Discord really couldn't think of anyone else who would enjoy a game of wits with him, there was only Twilight with whom he could have that kind of fun.

"Once again Fluttershy, well played. I'll attempt to be her friend. I will go to her and apologize. Maybe even take my position seriously to help her out. "

"That's great!" Fluttershy exclaimed as she clapped her hooves. "It would be nice to hang out with both of you when I come and visit."

"By the way, my dear, Spike told me you have a pecker," Discord said with a mischievous look in his eyes.

Fluttershy stared at him, blinking in confusion. Then she smiled when she understood what Discord was talking about.

"I do, he's an older woodpecker that I take care of from time to time," she said. "The poor thing keeps getting injured because of his age. He's here right now, in my room, would you like to see him?"

"Yes I would love to see your pecker," he answered.

"Oh wonderful, come on I'll show you my pecker up stairs."

She started flapping up the steps when she heard Discord burst out laughing. Fluttershy was confused again, but then blushed when she realized what she just said.

* * *

Twilight's doors opened to a mass of books, enveloped in a purple aura, making its way into the room, with the owner right behind her new hoard.

"Wow Twilight... I mean Princess," Spike said, waddling right behind her with a few more books."It's been weeks since you were crowned and all you've done is study."

The young dragon was looking around for a place to set his share of the books, eventually he was content with letting them drop where he stood.

"You know Spike," Twilight mimicked her assistant and let her books drop to the floor, "You don't have to call me princess."

"But Twilight I think it's cool that you're a princess now," He pointed his claw at her in a condemning manor, "and you should be happy about it too. You've been moping around the castle like this was the worst possible thing."

"If you say so, _Rarity_," Twilight teased.

Spike's body stiffened up at her pun and giggled with her as the joke set in.

Twilight sighed as she marshaled through the books. "I really miss the girls."

"So do I, Twilight."

Soon after Twilight found herself with a new body and position, her life changed just as fast. Her new responsibilities would keep her in Canterlot, away from her friends.

It soon dawned on her that she could be drifting away from her friends as more and more as time goes by. It was unavoidable as each mare had to live their life and achieve their goals.

Her mood was no better after the realization that she would also long outlive her friends. It had saddened the young princess so much that she drowned herself in studies in order to _ready herself_ to participate in daily court with the royal sisters.

Hardly anyone saw the princess outside of her trips to the library, replenishing her reading material. Soon there were more books in her room than in the royal library. Spike assumed it was another one of her overreactions, but he came to realize that this was not paranoia, it was cause and effect. The dragon assistant started joining her in her seclusion, slowly reconnecting her to the reality around her and helped her to move on.

From time to time, however, she remember that her time with her best friends was limited.

Most of the public was very happy to have a new princess in the kingdom, but for the leaders of Equestria it was political pandemonium. Twilight's antisocial behavior, prior to her living in Ponyvile, made her a mystery to most of the political leaders. It didn't help that she hid herself from the public almost immediately after her coronation.

"So," Spike rubbed the back of his head, eager to change the subject, "Ya ready for court tomorrow?"

"I don't think I'll ever be ready for that, but Celestia thinks I am and I won't let her down. Ah ha! Here it is Spike." She held up a grass yellow book with an earth pony silhouetted on the front.

"An Earth Pony's Green Hoof," she read aloud, "It's a history of farming innovations," she explained to Spike. "Farms and ranches are the base of our economy; it all comes down to food and our ability to grow it. I'll need to know as much as I can before tomorrow, Spike." Without waiting for a response she dug right into the book.

She read into the evening. Long after Spike settled for a pile of books near the bed, as his basket had long since been lost in the jungle of tomes and scrolls. She didn't realize how much time had passed until a knock at her door intruded her reading.

She trotted over to the door, happy for the distraction. "Hello," she said cheerfully as she opened up to…Discord.

"Why hello Twilight Princess," he push his way through the door before she could object.

"I think you mean Princess Twilight." She corrected with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

He didn't respond; he just stood there looking around at all the books. They climbed the walls and fortified the windows, towers of them reached for the vaulted ceiling above and small piles mined the floor. Not a single tome was in any order. Discord was flabbergasted at the sheer number, and also wondering how the hay she got towers of them past her chandeliers.

He shook himself out of his mental stupor and turned to respond, "And how do you know what I meant? Are you Discord? Wait! What if I'm Princess Twilight?"

Discord suddenly twirled around and shrank down. His body instantly morphed into a carbon copy of Twilight. Only his eyes were the same.

"There we go, now you turn into me." Twilight was a little disturbed that his voice didn't change either.

Twilight let her shoulders slouch a little bit. "I don't have time for your games Discord. I have a big day tomorrow and I only have three more books to read before I'm done."

"What, these?" Suddenly three tomes were balancing on his new hoof.

_When did he get those?_ Twilight thought.

"They're all about the same thing." The spirit said as he juggled the tomes into the air, "Dear, there is chaos and there is just dumb, try to know the difference."

"No, you're the dumb one." She smirked arrogantly, "They are about the same thing, only from different eras. They are- HEY!"

Discord started smashing the books together and turned them into an accordion.

"What are you doing?" she yelled with her hoof outstretched and her eyes wide with concern. "Stop that right now!"

Discord ignored her as he played a few notes and then handed the 'accordion' to her as one big book. She flipped it open and skimmed through it. Every page was different from the one before it; he had shuffled the pages of the books together as one.

_Every time he's around, my books suffer._

Twilight was still very angry with him. She had to track down Celestia and explain, only to find out that her old mentor played her and figured Discord was up to his tricks. Twilight could feel heat rising up from her belly to her chest as she slowly surrender to her anger.

"Out." She practically whispered.

"Pardon?" Discord honestly didn't hear her.

"I said _out_!" her voice reached a volume that Luna would have been proud of.

The guards slammed through the doors, spears drawn ready for anything; anything except for two Princess Twilight Sparkles. The guards didn't know what else to do but point their spears at each one.

"Relax boys it's just me." The guards instantly recognized Discord's voice. They relaxed their posture but kept their spears still pointed at Discord. Taking the hint from the guards, Discord made his way through the door.

"Hey wait! Fix the book!" Twilight yelled at him as he left.

"Sorry, I can't hear you over you kicking me out." He yelled as he made his way down the hall. The guards bowed and closed the doors as they backed out.

Twilight groaned and threw herself on her back. Lying there staring at the ceiling, she scooped up the book with her magic and prepared herself for a long night of sorting through the oversized tome.

* * *

Guards stood at perfect attention as Twilight made her way through the castle with her assistant in tow.

"Sorry about falling asleep on you again princess," Spike said shamefully.

"Spike we've been over this, you're still a baby. I know you strive to do the best you can, but I rather have a well rested Spike than a burned out Spike." She looked over her shoulder and gave him a loving smile, to which Spike soon returned.

"So, are you still worried?" he asked as they walked.

"About court? No. I think I'm ready for that. I am however worried about a discovery I made last night."

"Really?" Spike sprinted up ahead of Twilight in order to see her face. "Well, what did you find?" he asked her.

"Well for the last 1500 years we have used the same farming techniques."

"Well you know what they say." Spike raised his finger in a matter of fact gesture. "If it's not broke don't fix it."

"Actually, Spike, it's not a good thing to just stick with what works."

"Wait, it's not?" Spike asked as the pair turn down a different hallway.

Ahead of them was the large doors to the Grand Hall where court was held every day.

"If we don't change or try new things there is no progress," Twilight said as she went on with her lecture. "It is very concerning to discover that our ways of farming have grown so stale.

"Funny thing is I wouldn't have discovered it if it wasn't for Discord smashing those books together"

"What are you talking about, Twilight?"

Twilight raised an eyebrow at Spike but then remembered that he was asleep when Discord visited her.

"I'll tell you about it later, Spike," She told him as they approached the Grand Hall.

The door glowed with magic as they opened up.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle and her first assistant, Spike the Dragon." A nameless announcer called out.

Before Twilight was the throne room, it was here that she had met up with her mentor so many times before. Only now a third seat was at the end of the long hall; with ponies from every corner of Equestria greeting her at the door. So many ponies were happy about the element of magic joining the royal family, however something as a big as a new princess is going to step on a few political hooves. Her first court was going to determine a lot about her rule.

Upon seeing all those faces as the doors opened, Twilight's nerves broke. She was not unfamiliar to large crowed giving her attention, but not ever as a princess of the court. She should be walking down the hall to her throne and take her side next to Celestia. She should move with grace and prestige worth of her title. But she just stood there wishing to hide herself. Her paranoia took a hold of her as a million possible outcomes flooded her mind and froze her body.

"Former ruler of Equestria," the announcer started up suddenly. "Court advisor, and…a-and court jester, Lord Discord."

Twilight's eyes widen as she looked behind her and up at the last spirit she wanted to see.

"Twilight, are you ok?" Spike's concern voice hardly registered as anything. She just stared at Discord's smug face.

"I didn't know there was a line to the throne room, do you require some assistance, my princess?" Discord gave her a mock bow.

To his surprise she nodded, unable to move her mouth.

He raised an eyebrow at her but shrugged it off. Discord snapped his fingers and Twilight's golden hoof shoes turned into roller-skates. The spirit smirked menacingly and gave her a push. All eyes followed her as she slowly rolled down the red carpet. Her body was still frozen as Discord walked behind her giving her a light touch every now and then as they…well, he walked and she rolled down, past all the ponies. Spike was waddling behind Discord with his claws over his mouth so not to laugh. Twilight's shame grew as every inch went past her, she heard snickers here and there, she saw the faces of her subjects, some looked horrified and disgusted with either her or the spirit 'assisting' her, but what was worse was the silence. Hardly a noise could be heard as most of the court watched in silence.

Finally, after what felt like hours to Twilight, she came to the steps of the three thrones. Still frozen she only moved her eyes to look up at the other princess.

Luna wouldn't look at her and Celestia looked like she was fighting off a fit of laughter.

At this point Twilight was screaming at her body to move, but it still would not listen.

"Thank you for joining us Princess Twilight" Luna spoke up suddenly, "We see you have fallen victim to one of Lord Discord's pranks. Why just last month he cast a spell that switched the clothes of any one that walked into the great hall. Sorry dear sister, but gold just isn't our color." A snort could be heard from Celesta as the laughter built up inside of her began to overflow.

Twilight felt a little lighter and a little bit more mobile.

"He froze you didn't he?" Celestia asked Twilight.

"Well-"

Discord spoke up before she could answer. "It really doesn't take much to immobilize you ponies."

Twilight looked up at the spirit in bewilderment.

_He didn't freeze me, I lost my nerves._

"Lord Discord, as entertaining as this is, please allow the princess to take her seat." Celestia said.

The spirit snapped his fingers and Twilight found herself on her throne with the skates gone. Spike made his way to stand next to her. While Discord stood off to the side.

"We shall hear the first petitioner," Luna announced.

One of the lunar guards had a list and pointed to a brown earth pony with a seedling cutie mark. The stallion made his way to face the three princesses.

"I have come here like my father before me to ask that the winter season be extended. Most farms are suffering more and more every year, because their fields just can't recover enough nutrition during the winter months. It causes less than desired crops and sometimes none at all."

"You are Top Soil's son, Seedling?" Celestia asked. "How is your father?"

"Ill, your majesty, it's why I'm here instead," Seedling answered.

"I'm sorry to hear that Seedling, your father is a tenacious stallion he has come to us with this issue every year."

"Yes, we have respect for your father." Luna said, "But we have never been able with adhere to his wish. It would shorten the other seasons."

"Further." Celestia added, "This will stretch the food reserves of many ponies. Inflation will ensue and both our economy and citizens will suffer."

"But your grace," Seedling pleaded, "each year the farmers have to buy or obtain more land in order to grow the same quality and amount of food that they grew last year. We will eventually have less viable food than mouths to feed them with."

Twilight solely focused on the dilemma, and suddenly found her voice again.

"He's right Princesses, but it's more dire than what he suggests. Most farms are a part of a community, and the encroachment of the land grabbing that they have to do could lead to a lot of problems all over Equestria. I found a history of small proxy wars that happened long ago. I noticed a pattern that drew a line and connected the wars to this issue. It might be a good idea to extend the winter season to maintain a balance."

Seedling's eyes seem to grow at Twilight's input, unfortunately his joy was quickly shot down.

"The winter season has never changed and neither has our economy. Further our culture is past such pettiness that strife like that is hard to fathom in this day and age." Princess Luna said in a flat voice, "Your concerns are noted, but unfounded."

"Exactly!" Twilight seemed to have found more than just her voice. "Our economy has not changed much in a thousand years. Our climate can't change; too much of Equestria is sensitive to the seasons. However, our population is growing but our economy is not. He is right, Princess Luna, something must be done or we will have fights over land and then food."

Several moments of silence went by as all eyes were on Twilight.

"I think they're waiting for your solution, princess" Discord yawned, still floating off to the side. Twilight nearly forgot about him, she was surprised that he had not caused scene yet.

_He must be dreadfully bored with all this._ She thought.

"Yes, well, I'm sorry I don't know a solution, but I agree. We must find a way to give more time to the soil's recovery."

The court seem to erupt in murmurs and whispers at her response. Twilight was sure she was not leaving a great first impression on the court. The political fallout of her first court was looking grim indeed.

"Oh oh oh!" Discord was waving his talon hand in the air like a little school filly.

"Yes, Discord." Twilight sighed.

"Why don't they just not plant anything?" Discord smile like he said something clever.

"Is he even trying?" Luna whispered under her breath as her temple throbbed; Celestia was trying to cover her giggle at her sister's frustration.

"Wait, that's it!" For a second time Twilight found all eyes on her, "If the farmers only plant crops on half of their land for the year and then switch the next year, the soil will have time to recover thoroughly. It would be rough the first year, but we have food reserves that we can distribute to offset the effect of the transition."

"That's..." Celestia spoke hesitantly as she tapped her chin, "Doable, we can do that, yes." Her voice and demeanor perked up as she understood the concept more and more, "Great idea Princess Twilight!"

"It wasn't mine, it was Discord's." Twilight said.

"She's right, Discord." Celestia said with a smirk on her face, "The idea stemmed from you. Thank you very much; it's a problem we have been pondered over for a long time."

Celestia was milking this for everything it was worth. She knew that Discord's nerves were grinding with every word of congratulation from her.

Discord said nothing but grumbled to himself, his arms crossed in defiance.

"Now that the issue has been resolved," Luna spoke up hoping to move things forward, "we should bring on the next petitioner."

A tan colored unicorn mare and stallion whose clothes and jewels dignified them as nobles stepped forth. The mare cleared her voice before speaking.

"I am Sandy Shores and my colleague here is Coconut Estate. We represent the victims of the changeling incursion into our lands. We have come to petition that our government does away with the looming threat past the barren lands to the south." The mare spoke in an uppity voice that was screaming superior. "As long as that filth exists no-pony is safe; even in our own lands."

To everyone's surprise it was Discord who answered.

"So you want to wipe them out?" he asked raising an eyebrow at her.

Twilight was taken back, she had never seen him so serious, even with Fluttershy; it was almost scary to her.

"If they no longer exist then we are safe from them, so yes, like any other pest, exterminate them." The mare answered him.

Discord stopped hovering on the spot and stood. He seemed to glare at the mare. Soon Twilight was not the only pony who noticed the change in him; soon the whole court was watching him.

There was a soft expression of anger in his face. Twilight has never seen Discord express anger before. Annoyance and other negative emotions, yes, but not anger.

Luna turned to Celestia, "Yes sister we must find a way to protect our people, we might ju-"

"I move for a change of law, to prohibit any form of genocide by this government." Discord said interrupting Luna.

Everyone in the room was astonished by the tone coming from Discord. He sounded like a proper lord of the court, like a leader or a politician, not what you would expect from the spirit of chaos.

"Lord Discord." Luna started to speak, "there is a time and place to-"

"I second his request." Twilight interrupted. "Discord is within his rights as a lord of this court and I have given him my backing. This will allow his request to be judged by the court at any time we are in session."

"We are pleased to see our new members of this court are familiar with its rules bu-"

"I think I agree with them sister." Celestia said.

Luna temple began to throb again as she glared at her sister.

"What?!" Celestia asked innocently. "Everyone else was interrupting you." Celestia gave her a pouting face. "I was starting to feel left out."

Luna started grinding her teeth.

The two ponies that came to petition were getting nervous and impatient. The mare cleared her throat at the princesses. Luna turned her attention to the mare and was considering taking a page out of her sister's book.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle is right." Luna said to the mare. "The protection of our people must be attained without bloodshed. We are nation of peace so let it be known-" Luna turned to her sister as if to read her mind, then both of them raised their hooves in declaration and spoke in unison.

"Our government shall never seek the genocide or extinction of another species as a solution."

"But your majesties." Coconut Estate spoke for the first time. "You must defend your ponies. It is your duty; surely our lands would not miss the ugliness that the changelings bring to our country."

Now Twilight grew angry.

"What you are requesting would make us far uglier than the changelings." Twilight said to the stallion, "Your concerns about their looming threat are understandable, but we will be looking for an alternative solution. Your petition has been denied."

The uppity mare spoke in an accusing manner. "Am I to understand that you are extending your protection to the Changelings?"

This was it. Twilight first political trap. The catch 22 question. She spent two weeks making sure she was ready for the games these politics played.

"No, I am protecting us from becoming monsters far worse than the changelings." Twilight answered.

Before the mare could offer a rebuttal Luna called for the next petitioner. The rest of the session was just like the first two petitioners. Everyone seems to get their best resolution from Twilight rather than Celestia and Luna. Despite the success that Twilight was having during her first court, she found herself distracted the whole time.

It was Discord. He was floating to the side, mostly looking bored. Twilight had never seen this side of him before. All she ever known about him was he was a monster that ruled Equestria before Celestia and Luna.

Twilight also knows she can hardly stomach the sight of him. She found him repulsive; both in body and personality, but today he surprised her. His reaction to the changeling request made her more curious about him.

"Princess Twilight, what do you think?"

Twilight was looking at nothing in particular while she drowned in her thoughts.

Her head snapped up like a filly caught sleeping in class. She wasn't even sure who asked that.

"T-think about what?" she said forgetting where she was.

"The lollipops!" cried Discord. "There is a shortage of them; a lot of candy stores are going to go under. There are just too many ponies licking them. We need to stop them from licking so many lollipops!"

Twilight placed a hoof on her chin and looked down as she thought. She opened her mouth but stopped…the room was empty.

Twilight looked up at Luna and Celestia both of them smiling while trying to hold back their giggles.

"Sorry Twilight," Spike said, still at her side. "The court has ended and you kind of went blank there for a while."

"Well princesses it has been boring as always. I'm sure you'll drag me to another painful get-together so I'll disappear till I feel like it. Ta-ta." Discord teleported away.

"Why do you keep him around, Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked as the three made their way out of the great hall. "He seems to undermine you and Luna more than anything."

"Undermined us, Princess Twilight." Celestia said. "You're not my student anymore, you are my equal. And I think Discord did well, considering it's his first time."

"Wait you said he's been to court before," Twilight said as they turned the corner leaving the great hall.

"He never stayed around for the proceedings, mostly he would just remind us how 'boring' we are and fly off somewhere."

Twilight was finding herself lost in thought again.

_The first time he stayed was when I held my first court. Before that he lied to everyone to make me look better. He visited me the night before my first day as well…he's been helping me in his own twisted way._ Twilight stopped as she reached her conclusion. "He's just trying to find something new to entertain him, that's all." She said out loud without realizing it.

"What are you trying to find, Twilight?" Spike asked.

She smiled at him.

"Discord, help me find Discord. I wish to talk to him."


	2. Ch2 If you Shave A Pony Is It Naked?

Twilight at the Disco by 6ix

* * *

If You Shave A Pony Is It Naked?

Twilight struggled to remember when she first got into the shower as the hot water flowed over her body. After a few moments of the steamy liquid beating against her back, Twilight really didn't care anymore. Her body was still getting used to the extra weight on her back from her new wings; which themselves were hurting from being used more and more often.

Twilight noticed that she couldn't see beyond the steam of the shower. Every direction she looked she saw nothing but white emptiness.

She felt a sponge start massaging the tension in her flank, undoing the knots in her body. An approving moan escaped her mouth causing Twilight to blush.

She didn't care who was doing this; as long as they didn't stop.

"A service to my Princess," A voice whispered in her ear.

Twilight recognized the voice to be Discord's, but she found that it didn't bother her.

He hit every sensitive spot on her body as he worked his way up to her wings. She could almost feel her muscles coming undone; causing another sound of approval to sneak past her lips.

As he past her wings to her shoulders, all her built up tension melted away. He found a spot on her upper shoulder that had been threatening her ability to roll out of bed in the morning.

He dug into that pressure point, opening a flood gate of pain and pleasure that washed into her spin and down her front legs.

She felt him press against her rear as he reached her neck; his tail rubbing up her leg; his body warmer than the hot water running down their bodies.

His long body started to press against the rest of hers as his claws delicately made their way up her neck.

As the comforting weight and heat of his body climbed its way across hers; his claws went up her neck to her jaw line, gently forcing her to tilt her head back and look straight up. As her eyes adjusted she found that Discord had positioned his head right above hers.

Scarlet filled Twilight's face as he got closer and closer to her; his eyes sifting from her eyes to her lips.

The water suddenly and mercilessly became ice cold, causing Twilight to wake up with a jump.

_Never thought a shower would make me feel so dirty._ She thought to herself as a shiver ran through her body.

Twilight started to get up out, the pain in her shoulders and back reminded her that it was a dream, but she stopped; she threw off her covers when she understood why her dream was so…wet.

Somebody thought it would be funny to put her hoof in a bowl of water; a juvenile prank that didn't work. Unfortunately that didn't keep the bowl from spilling and soaking her, and the bed, with it.

She got out of the bed to find a towel and discovered that her linen closet had been intentionally raided.

"Only one spirit has the spine to do this," She said out loud.

Grumbling to herself, Twilight walked to the door to ask a guard for a towel so she could shower.

Irritated, she opened the door with more force than she intended; slamming it into somepony.

"OUCH!"

Twilight poked her head around the door, a look of concern on her face; she found Discord holding his left eye. He had apparently been trying to look through the keyhole.

"Ow! My eye!" Discord said while covering the left side of his face. "What do you think the other officials are going to think about that?" He asked as he pointed to his eyeball still stuck in the keyhole "The abuse of your own advisor." A fake tear fell from his good eye.

The concern was gone from Twilight's face, replaced with a glare.

"First, you're an advisor to the court, not me. Second, I shot you across Equestria the other day. I'm pretty sure I can take any backlash from knocking you over with my door. Third," she stomped her hoof in annoyance as she remembered why she was out in the hallway to begin with. "I woke up wet!"

Discord pulled his bruised eye out, spit on it, and then buffed it with his lion paw. He then put it back into his eye socket good as new.

"It happens to the best of us Princess; why, just the other day I woke up with a huge-"

"Discord!" Twilight yelled, her face flushed.

"I was going to say Charlie Horse," Discord got closer and whispered. "What were you thinking?"

Twilight pushed his face away from hers. "No, no, no! I mean you got me wet."

"I have that effect on mares. It's the white fluff on my tail," he tickled her nose with it. "It drives the mares crazy."

"UGH!" Twilight yelled, throwing her hooves in the air.

"Well if you that frustrated I can get you a stallion or two, maybe," he started tapping his chin. "Another mare?"

"No! You know what I want?" she took a step towards him; as steam blew out from her nostrils. "I want to put you back in the garden and let the birds poop on you!"

Discord raised an eyebrow at her. "You're into some weird stuff Princess."

"AHHHHHH!" she screamed.

Discord darted down the hall laughing as Twilight chased him.

* * *

A tour group was heading through the main entrance of the castle. Most of the visitors were foals and their mothers.

"This will be the last tour before they change the décor to include our new Princess, Twilight Sparkle." The tour guide said waving her hoof to the art and banners on the wall.

A filly raised her hoof. "Miss, what is Princess Twilight like?"

"I have actually met her before she was a Princess," The tour guide said gleefully. "Why, I find her to be one of the nicest and loving mares I have met. She is so well spoken, gentle, and smart. She would never harm anyone, we are all very lucky to have her as our Princess."

Suddenly Discord came flying through and did a 90° angle into the next hall. Twilight was not far behind him and tried to turn but ended up slamming into the wall, knocking over a several displays.

"BUUCK!" She yelled as she climbed back to her hooves and took off. "GET BACK HERE YOU PERVERTED BAG OF EXCREMENT! I'M GOING TO SKIN YOU ALIVE AND PUT YOU UPON MY WALL!"

A few moments of silence went by; then all the foals in the group started crying.

* * *

Discord was enjoying his little game of cat and mouse. He took a sharp turn again but found he made a mistake when the hall ended at a window balcony, causing him to stop.

"There you are!" Discord heard Twilight behind him. She was breathing heavily as she started taking large steps towards him, like a lion about to pounce.

"I'm," step. "Going," step. "To", step. "Dissect you!"

Discord smiled and bowed to her. His tail opened the balcony window and flew out backwards, mocking her with a wave good bye. When he got far enough away he hovered on the spot and gave Twilight a triumphant smirk.

Twilight just stared at him like he was some fool and snapped her wings open.

"Oh, right," Discord said to himself.

Twilight shot off from the balcony and hit her target dead center, causing both of them to fall into the garden below.

Discord landed on his back with Twilight on top of him.

"You put my hoof in a bowl of water to make me pee my bed!?" she yelled at him not bothering to climb off him. Twilight sat back and folded her front legs together, pinning Discord down. "Do you have any idea just how annoying, frustrating, and…and," she paused and smirked at him. "_Lame_ that is?"

"Lame?!" Discord yelled as he tried to get up, but Twilight wouldn't let him. He gave up and started auguring. "I'm never lame. I'm Discord. I can't even spell the word."

Twilight rolled her eyes at him. "Oh please, I'm best friends with Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. Do you know how often I got pranked by them? A hoof in a bowl of water; what are you a school filly?"

"If it was so lame, then why were you chasing me?" Discord said as he poked her in the nose.

"I, I," Twilight didn't want to admit what she dreamt about. "I don't know. I was just angry with you."

Discord started to get a victorious smile, but Twilight wasn't going to let that happen.

"You're still lame." She told him with a deadpan look. "You got knocked out of the air by a little, pony, Princess. _You're lame, _and I can't let you get away with it."

She got up and started walking towards him, his body still underneath her as she got closer and closer. Discord tried to back up but his body wouldn't respond. Her face only an inch from his; he could feel her breath on his face.

She stopped just a fraction of an inch when her horn lit up and a daisy popped out of Discord head.

Twilight sat back down, once again pinning him down, and she giggled at her work.

"You look so pretty now." She mocked him.

"A flower, really? And you thought my joke was lame." He reached up and plucked the flower from his head; as soon as he did another one grew in its place. He plucked it again, and again, and again. Then he snapped his fingers and had the same results.

"Sorry, Discord, but that flower is not going anywhere until I say it does." Twilight said with triumphant smile on her face.

"I'm very sure we gave each of you your own rooms." A voice above them said.

They both looked up to find Celestia standing over them.

"I never knew you were so shameless, Twilight." Celestia teased.

Her face red, Twilight jumped off Discord.

"P-Princess Celestia, I'm sorry we didn't mean to cause a ruckus. I was-"

Celestia raised a hoof. "Princess Twilight, I'm not here for that; besides this is your home now, as much as its mine. If you want to chase Discord through the halls and then frolic in the garden that's your right," Celestia said with a grin on her face.

Knowing that Celestia was teasing her now, Twilight just stared at her with flat face and narrow eyes. Discord, however, wanted to add his own flare.

"Princess?" Twilight rolled her eyes over to Discord. She raised an eyebrow and took a step back.

Discord had a white dress on with a braided pigtail wig. He was still on the ground laying on his side; he brought his knees to his chest and brought his claws close to his cheeks.

"Be gentle." He said with a blush.

"Bleh!" Twilight went pale while her face contorted into an indescribable look of disgust.

Celestia giggled at Twilight's discomfort.

"Princess Twilight, I did seek you out for a reason."

Twilight recovered from the shock discord gave her and turned towards Celestia.

"I wanted to let you know personally that the ambassadors of the zebra and the griffins would like to have a meeting with you. I set aside the conference room next to the grand hall for you. They want to meet this evening."

"Meeting? With ambassadors, of other countries?" Twilight flattened her ears to her head with a nervous look on her face. "I can't do that yet, I just had my first court. What if I mess up and they don't like me?" Beads of sweat started running down her face. "What if I insult them and our treaties are broken? What if I start a war? What if they take me as a political prisoner?"

"What if you show up to the wrong room?" Discord added. "What if the griffin is hungry and you're the only thing he can eat? What if-"

"Discord!" Celestia yelled, pointing at Twilight.

Discord followed her hoof and saw the state that Twilight was in. A crazy smile was on her face as her eye started twitching.

Normally Discord would feel accomplished when he broke a pony like this, but this time a little bit of him didn't feel right; though only a little.

"I could always attack first, hehehe" she said to no one with her head tilted to the side, her eyes wider than what should be physically impossible.

"Twilight, what do you normally do to get ready?" Celestia asked in a concerned voice.

Twilight's expression suddenly switched back to normal with only a few strands of her mane out of place.

"I study, Princess." she answered her.

"Well then you know what to do until this evening don't you?" Celestia gave her a motherly smile. "We can handle court today. This meeting is far more important."

Discord started to stand up when he noticed that his coat was damp, after a moment he realized that Twilight got him wet and was partially soaked from the bowl.

"Twilight we should shower." Discord said out loud, talking more to himself than anything.

Twilight went wide eye and blushed.

"Buck no!" She yelled and teleported away leaving the spirit of chaos confused for the first time.

"Discord?" Celestia spoke up.

Discord shook his head of the confusion and gave her his attention.

"I want you to write to the girls again, specifically Rainbow Dash."

"Why should I?" he said giving her a stubborn look. "And what about?

"Talk to her about what Twilight is doing today and what you should do about it."

He rolled his eyes at her.

Celestia started to walk away, but looked back. "Nice flower."

He ripped the daisy from his head, another grew back.

* * *

Rainbow Dash was once again napping away the afternoon in her cloud home when her alarm went off. She rolled over to turn it off; mumbling to herself about not setting an alarm in the first place. She hit her alarm clock multiple times but the ringing wouldn't stop. Rainbow dash forced her eyes open and found that her alarm was not going off. Instead a folded paper next to it was the ruckus. The odd scene woke her up completely. Rainbow Dash was thankful that the ringing stopped after she picked up the letter.

Without bothering to see who it was from, she unfolded the letter. As soon as she did Discord head popped out and was eye to eye with her, his trademark smile on his face.

Rainbow Dashed yelped and dropped the letter out of surprise; as it fell the rest of Discord came out of the letter.

"I was sleeping, ya jerk!" she yelled at him. "Wait, did you mail yourself? And what's with the flower on your head?"

Discord smiled and silently picked up the letter and handed it to her. Reluctantly, she read it as he floated around in circles above her.

Dear over the top, insecure pony,

I have been given the horrid task of writing you; task fulfilled.

Thank you,

The most handsome spirit that has graced your eyes, Discord.

"Really, that's the best you can do?" Dash asked with an annoyed look on her face. "Your last letter was waay funnier."

"I quickly got bored with writing you, so I decided to pop in instead."

"Gee, thanks." Dash said in a flat voice. "Now get out of here!

"But the Princess wants me to talk to you, surely the element of loyalty will indulge her Princess?" He mocked her as he rubbed his claws together.

"Fine," she said in a defeated voice.

"I don't like this anymore than you, but I rather not be a bird toilet again." He joked.

Rainbow Dash expression soften a little. Discord went on to tell her about this morning and the meeting. He did add that Fluttershy convinced him to try and make Twilight a true friend.

"Ok, that prank _was _lame." Dash then flicked the daisy on Discord. "That flower on your head is funnier than what you did to Twilight."

Discord sighed "So I've been told. It just means I have to get her good next time. You can even help."

"Sure," She shrugged. "I understand why the Princess sent you to me what with me being naturally talented and stuff." Dash puffed her chest and wings out. "When it comes to your friends you should stick to your guns. Be 100% behind your friends no matter what!"

"Does it ever rain in here?" Discord asked as if he wasn't listening. Dash followed his gaze to her ceiling.

"Wait! You can't just-"

Discord snapped his talon hand and the ceiling started raining. Luckily Rainbow Dash's house _is_ a cloud so the rain just got absorbed back into the structure. That didn't keep Dash from getting soaked; causing Discord to burst into laughter.

"You know you started something that's not going to stop, right?" Dash threatened.

* * *

Twilight had taken Celestia advice and picked up everything she could on the griffins and zebras.

Picking up a new collection of book after a crew of cleaning mares had just returned all her others made a few of the staff more than upset.

With all the books gone the design of her room could be seen.

Her quarters was oval in shape. She had insisted on simplicity, but the room dotted with things that reflected the intelligence Twilight possessed; scales, models, rare books and spells, plus the telescope on the balcony. The decor that tastefully lined her wall was old diagrams whose age and style made them look like works of art.

Four doors and a balcony lined her room, at least to the ignorant. Along the wall, between the closet door and the balcony was a hidden door for her protection.

A few geo samples and scrolls sat on a mahogany desk that was positioned next to her balcony entrance.

Twilight had to fend off Spike from eating her samples on more than one occasions.

Her bed was nearly three times the size it was back in Ponyville. As conservative as Twilight can be, she was so happy about the size that she squealed like a teenage filly when she saw it. The bed had blue covers and an exaggerated canopy. Along with more pillows then one needed; most of them were on the floor where Twilight preferred to read.

Her room had a large walk in closet with many formal and traditional wear inside it. Tucked deep inside the closet was a small vault for her jewelry.

Most of the time she went days without wear a single piece, not even her tiara; Luna had many fits over what she called a lazy habit.

Her bathroom was right next to her bed for convenience. There was both a tub and a rather large walk in shower with two shower heads.

The linen closet was outside the bath room. Twilight assumed that it was that way so that the cleaning mare would not have to interrupt anything.

Lying in the middle of her room, she had gone through 4 books when she heard a knock at her door.

"Spike, is that you?" Twilight had not seen her dear friend all day.

No answer.

Curious, Twilight made her way to the door.

As she opened the door to Discord a sense of déjà vu and annoyance washed over her.

"My Princess!" he exclaimed throwing his arms in the air.

Twilight was not amused and wore her irritation on her face like a mask.

"Your Princess is in another castle," she said sarcastically as she tried to close the door on him.

Discord, however, casually placed his lions paw on the door. "Come now Princess, don't be like that."

A pair of spears suddenly bared his way. Twilight's guards went into action the moment Discord became uninvited.

Twilight sighed. "Its fine boys; he's a pest not a threat."

Discord let himself in and closed the door behind him.

Twilight, partially ignoring his presence, walked back to her pile of books. After lying down on her belly, she resumed her studies where she left off, but kept on glancing at Discord expecting him to do something.

He just stood there rocking back and forth on his heels, his claws behind his back.

Despite him being quiet and still for once, it annoyed her even more.

"What do you want Discord?" she asked as her temple throbbed.

"What do _I_ want?" he placed his claws over his chest, as if Twilight insulted him. "I'm here for you." He walked up to her as he spoke. "I've come to lend you my paw." He ripped his lion paw off his wrist and tried to hand it to her.

Used to his antics, Twilight lowered her eye lids at the paw and then gave Discord the same blank stare.

"What?!" Discord asked in reaction. "It makes a great back scratcher." He said as he demonstrated digging into his back with the severed paw.

"Discord please," Twilight said in a defeated voice." I have a lot to work on." She turned back to her book trying to ignore him again. "You may not care about this land but I do, please leave."

A hint of anger glimpsed Discord's face before he reattached his paw. "Fine, I tried."

Without another sound he flew out her balcony.

Twilight was so deep into her book she was unsure of how much time went by before Spike came into their shared room.

"Hey, Twilight." Spike stopped when he saw the new pile of books in the room. "Whatcha working on now?" he asked, rather surprised that she was back to studying.

Twilight was happy for a break. She started explaining as she got up and stretched her legs, allowing the blood to flow freely. Twilight also informed Spike about Discord interrupting her.

"Ok, but why did you kick him out?" Spike's inquiry surprised Twilight.

"What do you mean, Spike?"

"Well yesterday you tried to hunt him down after court but we never found him." Spike gave her a shrug. "Wasn't that your chance to talk to him?"

"I didn't think about it," Twilight answered honestly. "However, I have more important things to do." As she answered him she returned to her lying position with a book in front of her.

"Fair enough, but you sure he wasn't really trying to help? I mean he did rule Equestria for a long time."

Twilight's eyes widen when she realized he was right. Discord was trying to help but she had allowed her own animosity to cloud her mind. As the wheels in her mind kept spinning she believed that Spike was onto something.

Discord could do anything he wanted. He didn't need to rule over the land to enforce his power. He did care for Equestria, in his own twisted way.

"He ruled, he cared," Twilight said to herself as she got up.

"What was that?" Spike asked not sure what was happening.

"Do you know where Discord's room is?" Twilight asked him.

"I'm not sure." Spike said as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Twilight poked her head out the door and asked the guards to escort her to Discord's room. To Twilight surprise it was right in front of hers.

She gave them a sheepish smile as she crossed the hall and knocked on the door.

There was no answer, but Twilight was not dissuaded. She opened the door, stepped through…and started to fall.

She nearly forgot about her wings and spread them just in time to break her fall. When she got her bearings straight she found an almost foreign world around her.

Rolling hills of polka dots, strips, and other random patterns etched out the land as far as she could see.

When she looked back at the door she saw that it hung randomly in the sky. Like a portal back to her world.

"He's created his own universe in here!" Twilight shouted as she flew through the sky.

Twilight had no idea how she was going to find Discord in all this…chaos.

Every where she looked something peculiar caught her eye.

Flowers that were blowing bubbles, a tree growing feathers instead of leafs, an animated parchment of paper chasing a rock, a pair of boulders doing the tango, and a heard of beds with legs stampeding across the plane.

Twilight nearly had enough of this and was about to turn around when she noticed somepony chasing the beds.

She decided to investigate; as Twilight got closer her curiosity paid off. She could just make out Discord riding a broom while swinging a lasso in the air.

"Discord!"

He could barely hear his name over the wind that rushed past him.

"Discord!"

It was getting louder.

"Disco!"

Discord started to look around. He soon noticed the purple dot coming right at him. He slowed down, pulling on a strap he nailed into the broom; allowing Twilight to catch up to him.

"Hello Princess," Discord said, this time it was his turn to be annoyed. He watched as the heard of beds started to pull ahead and out of his lassos' range.

"Thanks," he said looking up at Twilight as she flew above him. "I lost my bed again."

"You can just sleep in mine again," Twilight said giving him a smile.

Discord pulled on the strap again; forcing the broom and Twilight to stop.

Twilight had a feeling she was about to regret her little joke.

"Yay!" Discord clapped his claws together. "Sleep over!" Discord pounced off the broom and tackled Twilight.

He hugged her, squeezed her, and thrashed her around like she was a stuffed animal. Twilight gritted her teeth together and blushed as she was thrown around like a rag doll.

"We can braid each other's mane, and tell scary stories and eat popcorn and paint our hoov-" Discord stopped long enough to look at his talon claw. "Claws and play spin the bottle."

Twilight finally got one of her hooves free and started to push and pull her way out of his grip.

"Personal space," she grunted through clenched teeth.

Finally she snapped herself free like a rubber band, flinging herself across the ground.

Discord flew up to her and encircled her like a boa about to eat.

"Personal space is a waste of space." He said as he pushed his face into hers.

"Discord I just wanted to talk," She said as she pushed his face from hers for umpteenth time.

"Oh, now you want to talk to, Discord?" Discord's eyes widen as an idea came across his brain. "Wait, why didn't you knock? You can't just waltz into someone's room."

Twilight looked over him in the direction of the door, which was a distant dot on the horizon.

"Something tells me that you wouldn't have heard me." She said in a dry voice. "Look I'm sorry I blew you off." Twilight let her ears drop as she apologized to the spirit. "I actually wanted to talk to you since yesterday. Why…why are you trying to help me?"

She tilted her head up to look Discord in the eye

Discord stared right back at her. Remembering his conversation with Fluttershy; 'come on, say it' he imagined her there, egging him on like she sometimes dose.

"Um…" Discord rubbed the back of his neck. "What else are…friends for?"

Twilight giggled a little bit. "I think me and you would make great friends."

"Oh, really?" Discord asked with a little anger in his voice.

"Absolutely," Twilight said without hesitation. "When it comes to friendships we're very similar. I only started having friends two years ago and you just started 6 months ago. We both spent most of our lives doing what we want not caring about friendship or what other ponies thought about us."

Discord found himself speechless, a foreign sensation to him.

"I was very awkward at the beginning," she went on. "Just like you. So, yes, I really do think we would be great friends."

A few uncomfortable moments went by between the two before Twilight broke the silence.

"Well I still have a lot of work to do I'll, um, I'll talk to you later." She waived at him as she flew off and left the strange world behind.

* * *

After an eventful day, Twilight was looking forward to the meeting with the ambassadors. Once she got control of her paranoia, that is.

Her guards opened the door and escorted her into a room that she had never been in before. The conference room sported architect and decorations that reflected the grand history and society of Equestria; much like the grand hall does. In the middle was an exaggerated table where she found the zebra and griffin ambassadors seated.

"Ah so we finally get to meet Princess Twilight Sparkle." The zebra spoke as he bowed respectfully. His voice was deep and smooth, yet it also sounded playful. His voice reminded her of chocolate and she could make out the same accent that Zecora has.

"Hello ambassadors, I hope the castle has been accommodating." Twilight said with a smile as she joined the table

"It is nice here comrade, soft, but nice," the griffin ambassador said, he also had an accent, one the northern griffins had. "I am Lazar Kaganovich, it means Iron Bird in your tongue. Me and my stripped friend are happy you agreed to meet with us."

"It's _my _striped friend and _I_, Lazar," the zebra corrected. "Forgive Lazar, your foals speak your language better than him," he gave Twilight a playful smile. "I am Jabari ambassador of the zebras."

"It's a pleasure to meet both of you. Let's begin." Twilight gave them another smile to let them know that she was listening.

"We'll after your first court we wanted to speak with you," Jabari started off.

Twilight gave them a nervous laugh as she remembered it herself.

"Yes we find you very," Lazar twirled his talon in the air as he tried to think of the right word to use. "Brave."

Twilight looked at Jabari hoping he would know what he meant by that. Luckily he did.

"He's trying to say you're willing to make changes. More was accomplished yesterday then in my whole career here in these lands," he said to her.

"Oh?" Twilight said, a little surprised.

"We wanted to warn you," Lazar said, his smile conflicted with his verbiage.

"Include, Lazar, not warn," Jabari corrected him.

"Include me in what?" Twilight had a bad feeling about this.

Jabari put his hoofs together, tapping the edge of his lips; a grim look in his eyes. "Our government has decided to deal with the changeling threat in the simplest way."

"We will destroy them all," Lazar said bluntly, his accent sent shivers down Twilight's back.

"Wait, we agreed an alternative solution should be found." Twilight became very scared of where this was going.

"Your government agreed, ours did not," Lazar told her.

"If the griffins allied with the zebras a war could be won with little loss," Jabari added. "Please understand Princess. Their hive is on our northern border."

"And in our mountains," Lazar cut in.

"Every day we read reports of families finding out their loved ones were monsters, parasites," Jabari continued. "They are not scared to invade our lands like they are of yours. Our people cannot wait for an alternative solution to present itself."

Twilight became horrified as she lost control of the meeting. As her panic set in, she started looking around like the answer was in the room somewhere. The two ambassadors were waiting for a response—Like vultures waiting for an animal to die.

Suddenly the bright room became dim and ominous. Twilight and the other two started looking around wondering what was causing the shift in the room.

"Hello ambassadors," a disembodied voice said from nowhere and everywhere.

Twilight saw Discord's body fly through the windows, like he did when they first met. The ambassadors, however, had their backs to him.

"Forgive the intrusion, but the _stink_ of hypocrisy was hard to ignore. During my rule and even after, griffins would snatch ponies right off the ground for dinner. All of Equestria feared the monster birds from the mountains."

Discord's theatrics were making the ambassadors nervous, but Twilight had seen this trick before. She should be mad at him for showing up uninvited; instead she felt more confident than she had when the meeting started.

Discord came out of the windows. Only now he was far larger and more snake like than before, his feature have taken a more animalistic look than that of the goofy face Twilight was used to. His altered form reminded her of the eastern dragons she read about.

Discord encircled the table with his long body before he sat next to Twilight. He rests his claws on the table digging into the wood. He leaned forward towards the two, his head nearly the size of their bodies, and bared his teeth.

With fangs in front of them, an oversized body behind them, the ambassadors were trapped.

At this point the ambassadors weren't nervous anymore; they were pissing themselves.

Twilight had enough and was about to kick him out, but then an extra head poked itself out of the neck of the oversized Discord; only it was the Discord Twilight was used to. The head smiled at her and wink before being sucked back into the neck.

Twilight understood and decided to let him stay.

Now she knew what this meeting was really about; how well Princess Twilight Sparkle could be pushed around. With Discord at her side, her confidence swelled.

"P-p-Princess c-call him off, _please!_ Jabari cried out.

"No. I rather like him where he is." She said with a smirk.

Jabari finally was able to take his eyes off of Discord and look at the Princess. She was standing, her wings open and her head held high. He couldn't read her face any more. It was just a flat emotionless face; and she was much larger then she was before, she didn't grow in size but Jabari now felt smaller in front of her.

_This is not the Princess that walked in here a few moments ago,_ Jabari thought to himself.

Princess Twilight scared him now more than Discord.

"Lord Discord is right; the griffins use to be the monsters feared in these lands. I once read that, in the early years of Celestia's rule, there was a horrific war that ended in the treaty that our two lands live by to this day. After that it was the zebras over cultural differences. Now it's the changelings. Each time was the same; war or conflict then we learned about one another and then an alliance. We plan to skip all the death and destruction and go right to the peace part."

"They don't want peace!" Lazar yelled.

Discord growled at him.

"Neither did your people," Discord said, the size of his voice matched the rest of him. "Something about 'ponies are just food'; your own king at the time said that."

"Now we are the prey of the changelings," Twilight added. "It's now obvious to me what we have to do." Twilight paused and looked the ambassadors in the eyes. "We need to broker an alliance with them as we have with each other."

Lazar suddenly stood up. "But our armies are already on the move."

"Then stop them," Twilight said, her voice rose just a bit as she spoke. "If they attack the changeling while we are negotiating a truce, it will harm our own alliance."

"Threats, Princess?" Lazar retorted.

"No," she said defiantly. "It's in our treaties. We agreed not to interfere with diplomatic relationships outside of our own. Therefore, if your government attacks the changelings while we are negotiating peace, you will break our treaties."

"I however," boomed Discord. "Will turn you into a fish and feed you to your children, if you fail the Princess. Same for you, Jabari, I'm not sure what zebras eat, but I'll find out. _That_ was a threat."

"Do we have an understanding?" Twilight asked.

The two nodded.

Suddenly Discord retracted his body to his head, like rope on a pulley. With a loud pop his body was back to normal and so was the room. He smiled and waved at the ambassadors.

"I believe you two have work to do. Have a wonderful day." Twilight said before she and Discord left the room. Right before Discord shut the door he blew a raspberry at them.

Lazar turned to Jabari and said, "Did Lord Discord have a flower growing out of his head?"

"Thank you Discord," Twilight uttered softly, once they were in the hallway. "I studied the history of griffins, thinking it would be useful, but I don't think I would have thought to use it that way if you hadn't shown up." She gave him a warm smile.

"I know, I'm a saint." Discord responded making a halo appear above his head while attempting to look innocent.

"Well I wouldn't go that far, but thank you," she started to walk away but Discord followed her.

"You're smart. Well... at least you claim to be. What do zebras like to eat?" Discord asked Twilight.

"Well my friend Zecora likes cupcakes." She answered ignoring his back-handed compliment.

"Then I shall turn him into a cupcake with black and white frostings." He joked.

Discord randomly started doing a backstroke in the air to keep up with Twilight. She raised an eyebrow at him but decided to ignore his antics.

"You should tell Pinkie Pie that joke," she said wanting to keep the conversation going. "She may find turning a zebra into a cupcake amusing."

"Yeah, she would get a kick out of that." He mused.

* * *

Suddenly Pinkie Pie dropped her bowl of batter mix and looked like she was about to cry.

"Pinkie, are you ok dear?" Mr. Cake asked her out of concern.

"I just felt so many ponies cringe over a cupcake. Cupcakes shouldn't make you sad, cupcakes are happy." She looked up at Mr. Cake, eyes filled with tears. "Cupcakes are happy."

Mr. Cake looked alarmed and confused. "Pinkie, did you take your meds this morning?"


	3. Chapter 3 あなたは、だまさ！

Twilight at the Disco by 6ix

* * *

Chapter あなたは、だまさ！

The fall sunrise raised over Ponyville; the morning fog rushed over the land as the sunlight warmed the charming little town.

Rainbow Dash was already deep into her morning routine. It was her job to clear the mist from the ground, and just as she was pushing around some clouds Twilight teleported on top of the white fluff.

"Whoa!" Dash yelled as she nearly fell out of the sky. "Oh, hey Twi, I mean, princess. What's up?" she said as soon as she recovered from the shock.

"Rainbow Dash we're still the best of friends." Twilight gave Dash a hurt expression. "Call me Twi like you always do." Her expression morphed into a nostalgic smile. "In fact, call me anything you want."

"You got it, Egghead!" Dash teased.

Twilight glared at her; Dash just returned with a cocky smile.

"That's Princess Egghead to you!" She teased back.

The two mares started giggling.

"So why has Princess _Egghead_ graced me with her presence today?" Dash asked as she started fly around her.

"Discord has been playing a few pranks on me" Twilight started to explain. "And this morning I woke up before he did, so now is my chance to get him back. You're the best mare for the job; so, what do you say, Rainbow Dash, want to prank the spirit of chaos?"

"Aw heck yeah! Wait," Dash landed on a cloud of her own and stared at Twilight for a few seconds.

"Wait, how do you know you woke up before he did?" Dash asked, squinting sideways at Twilight.

"Well." Twilight looked away from Dash in order to hide her blush. "He's spent the night in my bed."

Dash had a blank stare on her face that would rival a goat.

"W-what?" her question seemed to almost fight its way out of her mouth.

"It's not what you think," she reassured her. "He just didn't have a bed to sleep in."

"How?"

_I'm still wondering that myself._

Twilight sighed when she realized that she only had one explanation.

"He lost his bed." She said in a flat voice as she hung her head in defeat.

"How'd he lose his bed?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"He gave it le- never mind that!" Twilight shook her head. "It doesn't matter; its time for payback and I want to get him good, but I've never played a prank before. I read a book about it and it warned me that my first one is the most important because it can spark a," Twilight used her wings to make the quote gesture. "'Prank war'."

"So let me get this straight." Dash lied down on her belly, letting one of her hoofs to drape over the clouds edge. "You're telling me that you found an instruction book for pranking?"

Twilight slapped her face with her hoof and groaned.

"I'm just hoping you can help me out. I'm a little out of my element here. Do you have any ideas?"

Dash's eyes moved to the cloud that Twilight was standing on. A sly and mischievous smile grew on her face.

"Absolutely."

* * *

"Can't believe you let him sleep in your bed last night," Dash commented as she and Twilight pushed a cloud down towards the castle.

"Yea," Twilight sighed. "it was because I made him loose his bed."

"I thought he lost his bed because he gave it legs."

"He did but I made him loose it again." Twilight used her magic to open her balcony doors.

Dash was starting to feel like she was talking to Pinkie Pie.

"Ookaay, I don't know what's creepier; him sneaking into your bed or you letting him sleep there a second time."

Both mares hopped onto the cloud and slowly floated into the room. The mares lay down on the cloud, as if to hide behind it.

Slowly they floated over to Twilight's bed. Sticking in and out of the bed covers was Discord. His long body taking up every inch of the bed that he could. Drool oozed from his mouth; the flower still growing from his head.

"Ready?" Dash asked Twilight with an evil smirk on her face.

"Ready." she answered with the same look on her face. Both mares raised their hoofs and slammed them down on the cloud.

Thunder and lightning filled up the room as Discord sat straight up in bed, his hair on end and his eyes more uneven than ever before.

Two guards slammed through the doors with their spears drawn. They saw their charge and another mare laughing on top of a cloud with Discord looking disheveled and annoyed. They looked at each other and calmly closed the door.

"I have bucked open more doors in the last couple of days than in my entire career." One of them said the other nodded in agreement.

Back in the room the girls started to calm down.

"Now, _that_ was a prank, Discord," Dash mocked as she jabbed a hoof at him. "Not some lame bowl of water."

"Hic," Discord belched out.

"Oh my Celestia," Rainbow Dash started laughing again. "Did we give him the hiccups?" she rolled on her back laughing even harder.

"Hic," The bed became round and had polka-dots.

"Hic," Discord grew an afro.

"Hic," all the books in the room started flapping through the air like birds

"Ah-man! No way!" Tears seem to jump from Dashes' eyes as she laughed. Twilight was holding her ribs as more and more random things happened around her.

"Hic," A bath tub with Celestia in it appeared next to the bed. A glass of champagne and a brush were floating in mid air. Her look of shock and confusion quickly turned into a blush.

"What is the meaning of this!" she cried out, struggling not to let her voice break under the embarrassment.

Discord opened his mouth, but the only thing that came out was another hiccup.

A boulder appeared above Celestia; she screamed and jumped out of the way as it shattered her porcelain tub.

Celestia looked at what was left of her bathtub and then looked at Discord; she still had a look of bewilderment but also of understanding.

The pranksters were still on the cloud desperately trying to breathe. Dash got enough control to ask Twilight if that was 'Tom' that just took out Celestia's tub.

"Hic." This time, nothing.

"Aww," Pouted Celestia. "It was starting to be like Christmas in here."

The laughter in the room died down, but then movement could be seen under the blankets right before Luna popped out from underneath. Her disheveled mane and tired eyes told everyone that she was still asleep a moment ago.

She looked at Discord, whom was in bed with her; assuming the worst, her temple began to throb. Discord opened his mouth, but again only a hiccup came out. This time rose petals started falling on top of the bed. After looking around, Luna bared her teeth and growled at the spirit, like a dog about to strike.

Memories of being thrown across Equestria made Discord a little desperate to get out of the precarious position he was in.

Discord raised his paw up to get Luna to stop her advancement. He then grabbed his head with both claws and quickly snaps his own neck falling over instantly.

Luna had a look of horror as she frantically tried to get out of the bed. The sheets and silk covers wrapped themselves around her legs; causing her to look like she was running in place for a few moments.

After a good scream she flew out the balcony window.

The remaining mares, knowing full well that Discord was fine, were losing control of their bodies as their laughter intensified.

Discord got up and snapped his neck back into place.

"Ok, no more of this," Discord said as he snapped his talon. All the damage and the random animated objects disappeared, along with his hiccups. Twilight and the others soon caught up with their breathing.

"I have not laughed this hard in a thousand years," Celestia exclaimed. "Thank you, Discord."

She started to head out the balcony after her sister but stopped right before she took off. "Twilight, I'm starting to understand what you see in him."

"Thanks…wait what?" Unfortunately her response went unnoticed as Celestia flew out the balcony.

"Man that worked out better than I expected." Dash said wiping a tear from her eye.

"I must admit," Discord said in a dramatic voice. "That you two have bested me. However," an evil smirk crossed his face. "That doesn't mean you have won." He snapped his talon again. The two mares braced themselves for whatever he had planned.

Nothing happened.

"What were you trying to do?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Probably something lame again," Dash said pointing her hoof at Discord, only she couldn't move her hoof.

"What the?" she yelled once she realized that her whole body was sticking to the cloud. Twilight was also struggling to move.

"This isn't a cloud anymore," Twilight observed. "Its-" she licked the 'cloud' "a marshmallow!"

"Have fun," he laughed as he flew out the balcony.

"Oh no! My wings! It's in my wings!" cried Dash as she tried to force herself out of the marshmallow cloud, only the more the two struggled the more they got stuck.

They pulled, they twisted, Twilight even used magic, but they just got more and more tangled up in the sticky glob.

Outside the guards could hear the grunting and moaning as their voices began to rise out of frustration.

"I can't believe how hard it is." They heard echo from the room.

"Ouch! Not so rough, be gentler."

The guards couldn't tell who was talking.

"Like this?"

"Wait, lick it again."

"Hey that worked."

"Eat it, eat it! Yes! Oh, that's so much better!"

The guards started to blush.

"I'm getting loose!"

"Yes, yes keep it up I'm almost there!"

"It tastes funny."

"No! Don't stop! I'm almost there, use your horn again."

"Like this?"

"Oh, yes, right there! Harder, harder!"

One of the guards nearly fell over.

"Want to get an early lunch?" one guard said to the other.

"Oh buck yes!" he nearly shouted in response.

The two quickly trotted off.

Coming from the other direction; Spike was waddling his way to ask Twilight why she didn't come to breakfast this morning. He noticed that Discord was in the bed again and figured he may have delayed her a little.

He opened the door to the room and saw both Twilight and Rainbow Dash on the floor red faced, covered in sweat and breathing heavily, with white sticky stuff all over them and the room.

"Man that was rough," Dash exclaimed.

"Yea," Twilight responded, taking a deep breath after every word. "But it was fun."

"Oh, yea, totally worth it." agreed Dash.

"Discord really worked us over, didn't he?" Twilight said.

"Yea," Dash rolled onto her back with a grunt. "Because of him I'm going to be so sore."

Spike backed up the way he came. Quietly closed the door and left, his mind was quickly erasing everything he saw and heard before it traumatized him.

* * *

The girls got cleaned up before going to breakfast, more like a brunch at this point.

"I can't stay long Twi," Dash said as they walked the halls to royal dining room. "I still have a few things to take care of in Ponyville."

"That's ok Rainbow Dash; it was nice to spend some time with you again." Twilight lowered her ears. "I worry about how I'm not around like I used to be."

"Well you shouldn't be," Dash stated as if it was nothing. "Just because you're farther away and a lot more busy, doesn't mean we are any less friends."

Twilight ears perked back up.

"In fact, when we do meet up, it just makes it that much more special, right?"

"You're right, Rainbow Dash," Twilight said as her face brighten with a smile. "Nothing has changed between us, just the distance."

The mares pushed through the oversized door to the dining room. To their delight, Spike was waiting for them.

"Oh, hey Spike, what have you been up to?" Twilight ask as they walked up to the table.

"I don't know." He shrugged.

"It's almost midday. Surely you've done something besides eat?" Twilight teased a little.

As the two mares joined Spike, a servant ran out to receive their orders.

"No, Twilight, I mean I really don't know; I can't seem to remember anything after eating breakfast. I think I came here because I knew you would eventually show up to eat, but that's it.

A concerned look passed over Twilight's face, but her thoughts were interrupted by Dash.

"You may have been tired this morning," Dash suggested. "I've done that before, it's like a blackout."

"What's a blackout?" Spike asked curiously.

"It's what happens when you get really dru-"

"Tired!" Twilight interrupted giving Dash a glare. "If you're really tired you can go on doing what you had planned and not be able to recall it later on."

The servants brought out their orders. Pancakes for Dash and a daisy sandwich for Twilight; the mares wasted no time and started eating.

"Oh! Ok I see. Now I understand what Rainbow meant that one night."

Twilight dropped her sandwich back onto her plate.

"Wait, what?"

"Oh, one night, when we were still in Ponyville, I woke up in the middle of the night to find Rainbow Dash sleeping on a cloud she pushed into the library." Twilight looked at Dash, who shoved an entire pancake into her mouth. "I woke her up and she apologized, saying that she blacked out. Then she got all red in the face and flew off saying she needed to talk to Big Mac."

Dash suddenly started choking on her pancakes; she drained a glass of milk to clear her throat.

"I gotta go! Bye!" she bolted to the windows, wings already flapping but Twilight teleported in front of her.

"I'm sorry, don't tell Big Mac!" Dash yelled as she came to a stretching stop.

"Big Mac, that's what you're worried about?" Twilight jabbed a hoof at her. "Anything else you regret?"

"Yeah." Dash let her ears drop a little. "I don't remember anything I did with Big Mac. I always wanted to hfm-"

Twilight suddenly shoved her hoof down Dash's throat. After a moment she pulled it away.

"Yeah, that." Dash said pointing to Twilight's now wet hoof "only to different part of hi- hfm!" Twilight did it again.

"Baby dragon!" Twilight said through gritted teeth. Dash pulled her mouth away from her hoof and looked over her shoulder at the now confused Spike. The light turned on in Dash's eyes as she realized why Twilight was mad.

Dash turned back to apologize when the sun hit her eyes, it then clicked to her how late it was.

"Oh, man, I really do have to go, Twilight." Dash said in an ashamed voice.

Twilight sighed away her anger and gave Dash a smile.

"It's alright, Dash, I have to get to court as well. It was great to see you again. Just hold still and I'll send you back to Ponyville."

Twilight's horn started to glow and Dash disappeared in a purple flash.

* * *

Big Mac was dragging his plow through the fields for fall harvest. Pumpkins, beans, potatoes, and many other fall and winter vegetables made up a very small part of the farms products. However it was crucial to Ponyville to have such plants available. Plus it kept the Carrot Top family from having monopoly in town.

The morning fog had made the ground damp and thick. The water in the soil made the ground heavy and viscous, bogging down his hooves and demanding tremendous effort to move the plow even a few inches. Dry soil however was more likely to damage Big Mac's plow and slow down the harvest. As they say, the harder you work the bigger the rewards.

Unfortunately Granny Smith won't let him back in the house until the mud was washed from his body. Mac was not looking forward to a cold bath on the first day of the fall season.

A purple flash of light interrupted his routine as he ran face first into the flanks of Rainbow Dash.

"Hoof!"

Mud splattered all over Mac as she landed in the muck.

"Sorry about that, Miss Dash," Mac apologies as he helped her back up.

"No, I'm sorry Big Mac." Dash said as she flicked mud out of her wings. "I interrupted your plowing."

"Nope. I was about to stop anyways and take a bath in the lake. Would you like to join me?"

Dash looked up at the sky; she had to get the sky cleared by noon.

"Just give me ten seconds."

Whoosh!

Dash took off and flung mud in all directions. Mac wiped his eyes clear of the muck just as she cleared the remaining clouds from the sky.

She came back and hovered above where she'd taken off.

"Now about that bath," Dash said more eagerly than she wanted to.

Mac looked her up and down. Following his gazed Dash looked down at herself. The high winds had sheared off all the sludge that clumped to her.

Dash stared at herself as she thought. Still hovering in the air, she straightened herself upright.

"Wing cramp!" she cried suddenly and fell out of the air. Covering herself in mud.

"Now about that bath," she said again as she got up.

The pair made their way to the lake.

"After the bath we can plow again," Big Mac said.

"Sure, I don't have much to do this afternoon," Dash answered.

A few seconds went by as the two got closer to the lake.

"You were talking about the fields, right?" Dash asked.

"Nope"

* * *

Twilight stared at the spot that her friend once occupied; a look of sadness, longing, and contentment was mixed into her expression.

"Twilight?" Spike, said softly as he placed a comforting claw on her; Twilight hadn't even noticed him moving to her side. Spike didn't understand what was going on, but he understood that Twilight was becoming upset.

"I- I'm going to outlive them Spike," Her voice hardly above a whisper. "I need to spend more time with them, but I can't, Spike. I can't. "

A single tear rolled down her face as she embraced Spike.

Floating above the chandeliers was Discord; his arms full of paint filled balloons. He had a solemn look on his face as he watched Twilight softly cry in Spikes arms.

Her words made him think of Fluttershy and gave him similar concerns.

This…sadness that he felt, he wasn't used to it. In fact he'd only felt it once, when he almost lost Fluttershy to his own stubbornness.

Was this the risk of friendship? Is this all that it comes down to? A friendship starts and it's wonderful, but it always ends in sadness. Ether the friend dies or the friendship ends.

Discord was starting to see friendship as a curse; pain wrapped up with a pretty bow.

What confused him even more was that he felt upset that Twilight was upset. _Who cares_ that she was upset? It shouldn't affect him, but it did.

Thousands of years old and he was like a child trying to understand relationships and, like a child, he wanted to run away from these feelings. He knew the perfect mare to get his mind off things.

* * *

Twilight turned into the grand hall as her named was announced.

She tried her best to walk down the red carpet with confidence like she had seen Celestia do so many times before her. Unfortunately she was still as paranoid and overwhelmed as the last time, but she didn't freeze; instead, she looked behind her, hoping Discord would be there. That's when she froze.

_What am I thinking?!_

She resumed walking and pushed the strange thoughts from her head. She was closer to her throne with every step. But with every step, she fought to hide her discomfort from the crowd and hold her head high.

Finally she made it to the small steps to her throne. Twilight looked up and was surprised to find that her throne had been moved between Luna and Celestia, and was a level higher than the two.

Bewildered, she looked at Celestia who mouthed, _its ok, trust me._ Twilight then looked at Luna who gave her a nod of approval.

Hesitantly she started walking up to her sit between the royal sisters.

A sense of déjà vu came over Twilight when Celestia nodded at a guard with a list.

The first petitioner was… well it didn't matter; Twilight wasn't paying attention. She was always prone to overreacting or over thinking. Besides her anti social tendencies during her childhood; it was her only hindrance in life. Most of the time Spike was there to keep her grounded and calm when she became paranoid.

Twilight's train of thought was on Discord. He acted in a way that she didn't expect. The creature always sent a shiver down her spine every time she heard that cocky, arrogant voice of his. She expected him to be cruel, mean, and rude. Instead he was funny, clever, and… perverted.

Then he had moments that surprised her. All the times he helped her, and how he reacted to the changelings. A lot of questions were building up in her head over the last couple of days, but she had been so busy with her responsibilities that none of them were getting answered. Twilight's mind was more focused on him than her the court.

"I would like to hear what our new princess thinks of how discriminating our education system is," A far off voice said.

_He's supposed to be the spirit of chaos, of disharmony. Why is he going out of his way to help?_

"It's not right. I'll have a meeting with Lord Discord to clear things up." Twilight said out loud; only the court thought that was her answer.

On and on this went with Twilight mumbling to herself as Luna and Celestia took control of the court.

To Twilight, only a few minutes went by when it was time for dinner. Celestia requested that she join them for dinner that night.

Twilight left with no destination in mind, clearly walking to think.

"Are we sure she's ready, sister? I mean to take our rule?" Luna asked in a concerned voice. "There are times when she's perfect and then there are days like this." The sisters were making their way from the grand hall to the garden, an act done almost ritually after they have court. The guards had already cleared the halls and garden to give them some privacy as they discussed today's events.

"You must have faith in her." A rare, sad look came across her face, like a mother worried about her child. "She has so little of it in herself."

"I find her to be quite confident of herself." Luna said doubting her sister's observation. "She is a very clever pony and she is aware of it."

The two came out of the castle and were greeted by the sun's rays and the greenery of the garden.

"She is sister", Celestia agreed. "But emotions can overpower logic quite easily; you have experienced this fact yourself. Twilight is emotionally unsure of herself. Yet this is why she is ready. She is still growing as a pony and Equestria will grow with her."

Luna stopped and looked up to the castle; Celestia also stopped when she noticed her sister did. From the garden Luna could see the stain glass picture of when Twilight used the elements to change her.

"It's not enough," Luna said almost in a whisper.

"I'm sorry?" Celestia asked, not understanding what her sister meant.

"Twilight needs an anchor, sister. I don't agree with you, she can't rule on her own. She's like me, in a way, she'll never have a handle on her insecurity without someone to keep her grounded. I have you for that." Luna gave her sister an apologetic look. "I know you think that we are no longer fit to rule, but once Twilight outlives her friends she won't be either."

Celestia gave no response as she took a few steps away from Luna.

"I know, and I never planned to allow her to rule alone." Celestia looked down at an empty pedestal that once held her most unique statue. "She'll have an anchor, one that will live as long as she will."

"Are they even getting along?" Luna asked her sister.

"It's hard to say; they are polar opposites, but in a way that works. I never planned to take over Discord's rule permanently. Every day the balance between chaos and order shift in orders favor. Only the Evergreen forest still contains some presence of chaos. It's only going to take another few more generations before it's all gone and we can't even grow wheat."

Celestia walked over to a rose bush, a single blue flower grew in sea of green and red.

"Our citizens were so used to the unchecked chaos that Discord brought that we had to demonize chaos as some kind of evil to be banished from the world in order for them to accept us. This, however." Celestia smiled at the blue rose. "Is the true face of chaos: change, progress, uniqueness, it is the source of life in our world. This flower is blue because of a mutation. It was touched by chaos, and it has grown to be so beautiful and unique."

"Is that what Twilight is, sister? A mutation?" Luna asked as she stared at the blue flower. "Was she touched by chaos?"

"Not just touched, but blessed by it. You should have seen it, when I first found her; I had not seen magic like that since Discord. She changed everything around her. It was almost funny." Celestia giggled as she became reminisce of fond memories.

"Wouldn't that make her just another Discord?" Luna asked looking back at the old pedestal.

"No," Celestia shook her head. "She has the same magic as him, but she craves order. She is a pinnacle, an apex. That's when I knew."

Luna smiled as she began to understand. "Those two are perfect for each other aren't they?"

"Yes, they will bring true harmony to us all."

* * *

Discord suddenly sneezed.

"Oh, I bet someone is talking about you." Pinkie pie sang out as she brought Discord a plate of cupcakes.

About a half an hour ago Discord decided to drop in on pink and fluffy pony.

Pinkie had just finished making herself a cupcake with a red cherry on top when Discord twisted face appeared on the cherry.

Discord smiled with malice as Pinkie approached her cupcake; but he started to look up in horror at the open mouth of Pinkie pie.

"I should have thought this through," he said to himself as Pinkie bite into a third of the pastry.

"Hmmm that one tasted funny." Pinkie said to herself after she swallowed.

Pinkie could hear muffled yelling from her stomach; when she looked down at herself she could see her belly jumping around on its own. A look of confusion hardly touched her face before she stuck her hoof into her mouth and pulled out a very small and slimy Discord.

"Hello Discord! What were you doing in my stomach?" she asked in her shrill voice.

Discord hung there like a wet doll for a few moments. "I was looking for pearls," he answered sarcastically.

"You're thinking of clams, silly," She said through a giggle.

After she set him down, Pinkie Pie headed to the kitchen to make more cupcakes. She returned right after Discord got cleaned up.

"Ah, a mare after my heart," Discord joked as he took the plate for cupcakes. He lied down in mid air, like he was in an invisible hammock, and threw a cupcake into his mouth.

"Not really, your heart's already taken," Pinkie said casually.

Discord started choking on the cupcake in his mouth. After a few hard coughs, he forced himself to swallow the rest of the pastry.

"If it has, then it's been done without my knowledge and the criminal will be dealt with."

"No, silly," Pinkie said as she grabbed one of the cupcakes. "I mean you already like somepony. It is kind of hard to steal a heart, unless you're a heart surgeon, trust me I know."

Discord tried his best to ignore the last bit that came out of her mouth. _Pick and choose your battles,_ he thought to himself.

"I know what you meant, and you should ignore rumors, unless they're true." Discord grabbed another cupcake with his forked tongue and pulled it into his mouth.

"Oh I didn't hear it from anypony; my Pinkie Sense told me."

Discord's mouth was still full of cupcake so all he could do was raise an eyebrow at her.

"You see when my heart beats quickly then my tail twitches, that tells me somepony in nearby is falling for somepony." Pinkie rubbed her chest and shook her tail. "And you're the only one here."

"The cakes are down stairs," Discord argued. "Mr. Cake could be getting a mistress."

"No way!" Pinkie looked around the room to make sure no one was within ear shot. "No one in town is kinkier than those two; I can barely keep up with them."

Discord eyed Pinkie wearily.

"I'm not falling for anyone." Discord said defensively.

"Whatever you say, Disco." Pinkie sang out.

Discord got out of his…'hammock', and pushed his face into hers, normally this would make a pony uncomfortable, scared even, but pinkie just kept smiling at him.

"I hardly care for friendships, so why would I want a companion?" Discord pulled his face away gave Pinkie an aggravated look. "And don't call me Disco; I'm the spirit of chaos, not some dance routine."

"Tell that to the author"

"What?"

"Nothing." Pinkie scrunched up her face in a smile.

Discord's mind would not let him live in the moment. He found his mind wandering back to Twilight weeping in the dining hall.

Discord gave up and decided to change the subject. "Tell me, Pinkie, how does one of the elements deal with a friendship loss? You ponies live such short lives and you're prone to drama. All friendships are doomed; I don't find it worth the trouble."

"Oh that's easy. See this cupcake" Pinkie took the last cupcake off the plate and threw the whole thing in her mouth. She chewed happily for a few moments and swallowed the whole thing. "That cupcake was really good but now it's gone," she let her ears drop. "But that doesn't mean it didn't also make me happy while I had my cupcake. When a friendship ends its only sad because it made you happy."

"Why would I not be happy? I'm the spirit of chaos." Discord spread his arms out. "I can do and make anything I would need."

"I don't know if you weren't happy or not, but I do know that you can be happier."

Discord honestly just wanted something to reinforce his belief that friends are not worth the trouble. Instead he was finding Pinkie quite persuasive. So he decided to change the subject once again.

"Speaking of happier an idea came across my head after talking to a zebra."

* * *

Rainbow dash finished all her orders with Mrs. Cake and asked if Pinkie was around. Mrs. Cake let her know that Pinkie was upstairs. She headed to the upper floor that Pinkie rented from the Cakes.

She opened the door just in time to see Discord fly out the window with Pinkie waving him goodbye, her back to Dash.

Worried that he was in town to get her back she started looking around for traps that he may have laid out.

"Oh, hey Rainbow Dash," Pinkie said as she turned around. "We were just talking about you."

"Really?" Dash tilted her head.

"Nope."

Now Discord wasn't the only reason why Dash felt uncomfortable.

"Um, ok, so guess who has a date with Big Mac?" Dash said as her wings stood at attention.

"Fluttershy! No, wait is it Rarity? How about Ditzy? Is it me? I hope it's not Mrs. Cake."

"No Pinkie, it's me," Dash said.

"Oh, that was going to be my 23rd guess. Hold on _you're_ falling for Big Mac? How long have you been here?"

"What, oh? I guess I got here about 30 minutes ago, I had to make a few orders and I couldn't decided on a couple of them. Once I was done I decided to drop in."

Pinkie looked back at the open window.

"Oops."


End file.
